Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1887-04-09

his craft we have our wealth"
That railroad corporators ami their
paid adherents should take this view OF
he subject is perhaps not very surpris-
ing. Nor does it excite our specia!
to see them supported by the
subsidiary rings whom they patronize.
But, it is amazing to find that this
odious and demoralizing theory has
made strong lodglnent in the minds
ot disinterested, upright and high
placed men. Two members of tho
senate Judiciary comlnit;ee-l do not
say the ablest, because comparisons are
odious-but they are both of them
among the foremost men of the coun-
try for talents and integrity--these gen
tlemen emphatically dissented from Inc
when l asserted that the management
Of the railroads was not matter OF
business to be conducted like q private
merely for the profit of the
directors or stockholders. A heresy
so supported is entitled TO serious re-
futation, however absurd it may seem
On its face.
aver that a man or a corporation
appointed to do a public duty must
SSAAoA" ~ WILL oil CpC siuSiO W Vic
public interest. If he perverts his au
thority to purposes OF private gain he
is guilty of corruption, and all who
aid and abet him are his accomplices in
crime. He deties himself il he mingles
his own business with that entrusted
to him by the government, and uses
one to promote the other. Ii a judge
excuses himself for false decision by
saying that he sold his Judgment for
the highest price he could get, you
cover his character with intamy. A
officer, like sheriff, tor in-
stance, who extOrts from q defendant,
u even from a convict in his custody,
what the law does not allow him to
collect, and puts the surplus in his
pocket, is knave upon whom you
have no mercy. You send county com
to the penitentisry for con-
sultiDg their own financial advantage
to the injury of the general veal.
When the officers of city corporation
make business of running il to en-
rich Themselves at the expense of the
public, you can see at q glance that
they are the basest of criminals. Why,
then, can you not see that the officers
of railway corporation are equally
guilty when they pervert the authority
with which they are clothed TO pur.
poses purely seIfishr A railroad cor
poration is part of the civil govern
ment as much as q city corporation.
The officers of the former as much as
the latter are agents and trustees OF the
the public, and the public has an in
terest precisely similar in the fidelity OF
both. Why, then, should partiality or
extortion be condemned as criminal in
one If it be tolerated as fair business
when practised bv the other? Yet
there are virtuous and disinterested
statesmen among US who think thar
faithful service ought not to be en-
forced against the railroad companies,
however loudly it may be claimed by
the body of the people as their just
due, and no matter how distinctly il
may be commanded by the constitution
itself.
| am able to maintain that all the
corruption and misgovernment with
which the earth is cursed, grows Out
Of this fatal proclivity of public SER
wants to make business of their duty
Recall the worst cases that have occur.
red IN our history and see if every one
of them does not finally resolve itsell
into that. Tweed and his associates III
New York the Philadelphia rings; the
carpet bag thieves; the star route cou
splratOrs; all went into business fol
themselves while pretending to be ell.
gagged in the public service. Oakei
Ames distributed the stock of the
Credit Mobilier where he thought il
would do the most good to himself ant
others with whom he was connected
and that was business in him wht
gave, and in them that took his bribes
Madison Wells, when he proposed tt
Mr.. Kenner that he would make tru,
return of the election If he could b,
assured of getting 'stwo hundred thou
sand dollars piece for himself an(
Jim Anderson, and less sum for tn,
niggers," had as keen an eye to bust
ness as if he had been president of ,
railroad company, instead of a return.
ing board. Certain greedy adventureri
made it business to rob the nation O
its lands, and uniting with congress
carried it on SO magnificently that the,
got away with an area nearly equal t
nine states as large as Pennsylvania
The imposition OF the whisky tax, ex
Guiding what was held on speculation
was business to the officers and legis
lators who were sharp enough to an
ticipate their own votes. You will Sc,
on reflection that every base cOmbina
ton which officers have made with on
another, or with outside parties, ha
been business arrangement, precisel,
like that which the railroads Justify ol
the sole ground that it is business. Th
effect is not only TO corrupt those wh,
engage in such transactions, but to de
moralize all who are tempted by per
sonal and party attachments to apollo
gize for it.
When the officers of the Pennsyl
vania railroad company corruptl,
bought the remission of the tounag
tax, and thereby transferred to thei
own pockets an incalcnlable sum iustl
due to the state, it was business, ric
to them and profitable beyond tn
dreams OF avarice, while to the swindle,
tax payers it was proportionably dis
astrous. The nine million steal @
later date was business enterpris
which failed, because Governor Gear
most unexpectedly put his veto upol
it. Still more recently the same cor
poration undertook to get from tn
treasury of the state, four millions O
dollars to which it had no decent pre-
tense of claim. Never was any affa
conducted in u more perfectly business
like way. The appointed agents of tn
corporation came to Harrisburg whel
the legislature was i'm session, and reg
ularly set up shop tor the purchase o
members at pre- arranged and specified
prices. You condemn this piece o
business because it was dishonest, bu
was ii more dishonest than that whicl
the same corporation habituaI.y doc
when it stands on the highway, and b,
fraud or force EFFORTS from individual
citizens much larger sum in excessiv,
tolls to which its right is no better thai
to the money it tried to get by bribery
| The functions of railroad corpora.
tions are as clearly defined and ought
to be as universally understood as those
of any servant which the state or gen
ersl government employs. Withou
proprietary right in The highways the,
are appointed to superintend them fo
the owners. They are charged with
the duty of seeing that every needed
facility for the use of those thorough.
fares shall be furnished to all citizens
like the justice promised in Magnl
Charta, without sale, denial or delay
Such services, if faithfully performeti
are important and valno6 6loSu md the
compensation ought to be a.fGlt1qAlaS'
lent; accordingly they are ?
to pay themselves by levying upon
who use the road tax or toll or freighl